Inktober 2017: Update

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Update: Day 15 / 16:

Some idea sketches and experimenting in a notebook.
You can see here why I'm regretting doing the giant so tall in day 14. I will continue with the extreme size since it might work with some other elements I intend to add.

Other things have come up, so I'm falling behind with the inktober sketches. I might be 2 or 3 days behind and might struggle to catch up. But I intend to have 31 sketches done regardless. (some people might remember last year I was two days late by the end of October).

Doodles - May 23rd

Pamela Franklin - actress from the movie The Legend of Hell House

Bryce Dallas Howard (actress)

Ron Howard (from the TV show Happy Days

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Practice images.

I wasn’t sure whether to post these as a group image or as separate images. I didn't think they were good enough for their own separate posts. 

These are just some practice images. They are riddled with mistakes, but just like my other practice images I wanted to experiment rather than aim for a serious likeness (I probably didn't need to explain that)

1) actress Pamela Franklin as her character in the movie The Legend of Hell House.

2) actress Bryce Dallas Howard. I used an image from Google image search.

3) Ron Howard. Again I used an image from Google search. I used an old image from his days on the TV show Happy Days.

Doodles - Edmontosaurus #3

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More #edmontosaurus drawings. This time on recycled paper. The paper isn’t great, but it was cheaper than the toned paper sketchbooks that aren’t available in Ireland and end up being even more expensive with the cost of postage added on.

I’m experimenting with adding elements of red to the Edmontosaurus’ head. I saw clips from the Walking With Dinosaurs movie (apparently it’s a dreadful movie, but looks amazing) and liked the subtle suggestion of what their nasal openings may have been used for (possibly inflatable soft-tissue sacs).

Walking With Dinosaurs 3D (movie)

Doodle - Edmontosaurus #2

I'm still practising drawing #edmontosaurus.

I experimented with adding textures from photos. I didn't put much time into adding the textures, the image was really just something I was playing around with.

The second image is a mix of doodles I did before hand. I tend to approach caricatures of people the same way. I do a lot of quick sketches and doodles to get an idea or feel for what characteristics make a person look the way they do.

Doodles - May 12

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I was just experimenting with a different approach and playing around with colours. I should have pushed the shadows a lot more and made them darker.

The hair was an afterthought. I was originally painting a generic bald head. I then added the hair style of Ariel (the little mermaid).

Doodle - Edmontosaurus

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Practice sketch of an Edmontosaurus Annectens.
Prehistoric Times posts requests for [free] artwork for their issues and the theme for July’s issue is Edmontosaurus and Kronosaurus.
I’m not use to drawing dinosaurs (I think I keep mentioning that) but I thought it would be fun to set myself a challenge to produce some art for it. They accept fan art from all ages, not just pro paleo-artists, so it’s not an impossible task.

Doodle - Mar 14

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WIP / doodle.
I say work in progress, but I probably won't go back to it.
I was trying to play around with a different painting process. I'm a huge fan of digital art that has a painted or traditional look. Way outside my comfort zone.

I didn't spend much time on it. It's more messing around than anything.

Doodle - Mar 2

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I have been asked again to paint two boards for the local school's entry in the St Patrick's day parade.
We will see how that goes over the next week or so.

Doodle - Mar 1

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It's March "of the Robots." I thought I would give it a shot to get me back into a routine. The problem is I don't tend to draw robots or any kind of machinery. So, this could be extremely challenging and I might give up...
I probably won't try to do one every day because it could take me 2 or so days to get them looking right.

This is a poor attempt for day 1.
I was kinda inspired by the robot that is gaining attention lately -the one that is able to balance itself on two wheeled legs and its "arms" (which look more like the legs of a chair) act as a kind of counter balance.

Doodling - Feb 23

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The two on the left are just random drawings.
The four on the right, I had photos opened beside me. I was trying to practise a few things, but it was more for fun. They aren't very accurate (and are riddled with mistakes), but they look good enough...

Doodling - Nov 29

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Playing around in photoshop.
It's supposed to be Dr Alan Grant from Jurassic Park.

Doodling - Nov 13

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Playing around with a sketch of 1960s Batman.

Doodling - Nov 12

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A late night doodle in Photoshop before bed (last night).
Based on Marty McFly's mum (1955) from Back to the Future.

Doodling and Thumb-Nailing

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Doodling and thumb-nailing an idea for today's Inktober image. I'm pulled towards doing an scene from Brave. (I can't remember the movie, but I want to draw Merida).

Note to self, don't listen to podcasts while testing ideas.
I was listening to Your Creative Push episode 156 during this. The guest artist Mica Angela Hendricks mentioned her daughter drew a dinosaur body onto a head she had drawn. I normally listen to Your Creative Push when I'm in the middle of a piece but hating what I'm doing. Today I'm struggling with starting and expectations.
With Inktober, I'm now worrying that everyday has to be an awesome picture. But really Inktober is about getting back into the routine of creating and being satisfied with the process, not necessarily the end result. I'm finding the previous interview (ep 155) with Australian artist Abz very helpful.

Doodling - car and raptor

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Doodling - Sept 5

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Just playing around with Photoshop.

Doodling - air pilot (?)

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Doodling - rabbit

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Early October Doodles

These are just some quick doodles I did in early October when I was taking a break from animation. 

Self Portrait

My Friend Holly. She was cleaning on this day

Sketchs from Sangion: Behind the scenes

Sketchs from Sangion: Behind the scenes

Around this time last year I did a picture for a musician from the Isle of Man - Clara Barker. Back in January 2009, Clara posted a bulletin and a blog asking for art inspired by her yet to be released song “Sangion.” I did not immediately reply to the blog. In fact if you do look at the blog you will see a good two months went by until I replied. My thinking was that out of the 10,000+ friends she had, hundreds had to be better and more specialised than me. The moral of the story, don’t hesitate!! Give it a go!! Who knows?! And that goes for anything.

After two months I was getting a little impatient. I thought she was waiting for artwork before posting the song in her player. I thought the picture would be just for that small image in the player. A year later and Clara still hasn’t posted that song on her page :D (although there are a few new ones from her album on there).

I wasn’t really sure what to do for the picture. 

During the two months where I didn’t reply I did a few scribbles of clichéd scenes (the usually mushy lovers embrace or what ever), but because I never intended on being part of the project at the time, these scribbles look worse than my doodles.

Because I was so late to the party, Clara already had a few submissions which meant she wasn’t afraid to tell me what she actually expected from my picture. I would have made her tell me what she expected anyway. Basically she wanted the characters to be based on real people (which has in a way become my speciality these days).

Reading the lyrics is very different to actually hearing the song. For some strange reason I imagined it was about the characters battling either a war, the world, or each other’s emotions when they were apart. To give it a Japanese flavour (and because my style isn’t very manga to begin with) I set the image in feudal Japan. I based the samurai uniform on the one Tom Cruise wears in the movie "The Last Samurai." I did a second version of the image where they are wearing more modern clothes, just in case I was going in the wrong direction.